Is higher degree of intelligence sufficient enough qualification for humans to be considered a superior being?

Question

Please feel free to record your views in detail. For instance, is our high intelligence counterproductive, that makes us incapable of living together peacefully.... or even individually ensure one's own peace of mind?

Answer 1

No, a higher degree of intelligence does not make us to a superior being and history plus current happenings show this fact crystal clear anyway. Our heart or spirit gives the "warmth" and wisdom to our intellect and "could" indeed make us to a superior being, if we we would allow to let our self be guided by this truly humanly quality, which is based on "conscience".
Conscience combined with intellect would help to keep this planet healthy, and we terribly terribly failed in just that.
So our intellect alone does not make us superior.

Answer 2

Superior to what or who? Are intelligent humans superior to moral or creative ones? Does superior mean more worth, or just more intelligent? If more worth, does superior beings have more rights? Intelligence is not the same as wisdom or any of the other values or capabilities we value, such as humility, honesty, loyalty, integrity, perseverance, dexterity or adaptability.

In fact, intelligence requires these other qualities of ‘spirit’ to be of any value in the communal sense. I do not dispute the value intelligence brings to the possibilities or insights it can help realise or open up for the advancement of all, or its razor sharp dissection of interpretations or points of view or conclusions derived at by those less able capable of reasoning or thinking at the higher abstract levels of though, but intelligence in itself, according to me, do not have the sole right of possessing influence or power.

We are not as isolated as we might sometimes feel, we are part of a larger system in which all play a part, including other life forms. We should strive to find a fair balance of resource distribution within the limited resource environment we share with those alive today and those still to come based on a more equal valuation of all the players involved.

Answer 3

The term "Superior Being" is probably one step too far. We as the human race are more intelligent, but only in the fields that we know how to test. When you take into account the knowledge that many animal species have when it comes to migration (birds), senses (dogs, etc.) ... that list is a long one, but you get the idea. In terms of being "Superior" I do not think so, just highly specialised.

In short, we only consider "Superior" as "Powerful" or "Manipulative" ... if you remove those two attributes, then we are nowhere near "Superior". The ability of logical, rational thought may be rare in the animal kingdom, but to me it doesn't mean any more than the intelligence of a shark to be able to home-in on its prey from miles away.

I think the only thing that may set us apart is the idea that we have the potential to be superior beings, but we are nowhere near that yet.

Answer 4

First we would have to define what is intelligence. In my opinion, intelligence is very relative. Some people have academic intelligence others have manual intelligence, is one better than the other? no, they just have learned different tools. The same thing could be said about cultures. A European would be more intelligent adapting to Western culture than lets say a Rain Forest Pygmy, but that same person would die before ten days in the Pygmy's habitat, making him less intelligent then in those specific circumstances.

Although we can find diverse meanings for intelligence like:

* Capacity for knowledge and the ability to acquire it
* Capacity for reason and abstract thought
* Ability to comprehend relationships
* Ability to evaluate and judge
* Capacity for original and productive thought

I agree much more with this one:

* Adaptability to a new environment or to changes in the current environment

In this sense then, in my opinion, we are not superior. Animals have also many different and some times better tools than us to adapt and defend themselves.

Yes, the brain has evolved, but if we imagine the first humans in this earth compared to well equipped animals with teeth and claws, well, we were very vulnerable. Our own defence mechanism then was the brain.

We are just different to other species, but not superior.

Answer 5

Depends how you quantify superior.

We are more powerful and can domintae the planet to the point of destroying it if so wished. We are more powerful and more intelligent.

We may not be considered superior becuase we cause such harm, but no other creature has the cognition and thought ability to determine right from wrong, they act on instinct so how can it be compared?

A nice cuddly cat, for example, if left to its own devices, kills for food - its part of the natural cycle. If it developed the ability to kills thousnads and thousands, then it would do. It is limited by its capability, not its intent.

Sorry for the boring answer, but its a good question!

Answer 6

I assume you're referring to the question of a human's superiority over the animals. Intrinsically, higher intelligence only denotes superiority in intelligence. Most vertebrates beat us hands down - so to speak - physically, so by that measure THEY are superior. Many of them live longer than us. In conclusion I'd say that the answer is "yes" in that first specific case, "irrelevant" or "no" in others.

Answer 7

Intelligence and intellect in my view are not one and the same. for instance even an elephant possess intelligence as well as a spider. we are astonished at the way 'Dolphins' interact with human. Hence intelligence is connected to the worldly life. Intellect can lead us to spirituality or moral way of life. Hence with higher degree of intelligence alone we could not be classified as a superior being. In my understanding, God alone can be termed as 'Supreme' .

Answer 8

What is the nature of this intelligence? How are you going to quantify, and measure it? IQ tests are very narrow. We don't have yet the knowledge of how to fully understand the intelligence of non-human beings, for example dolphins who have natural abilities beyond ours, such as sonar which far surpasses our technological attempts to recreate it. And what about the orderliness and social stability of ant colonies? There are thousands of examples in other species, not to mention what we don't know about possible beings from other planets. I think as a species, we are highly self-destructive and I fear we will eventually take all the other less destructive species down with us. So much for human intelligence.

Also, most other animals only kill for food. We are the most violent and aggressive animal.

Answer 9

it really is completely available that there is a higher intelligence. it really is completely available that there is a author. it is also available that there is a author of better intelligence. what's not any longer achievable is for there to be a author of suitable intelligence that has designed the universe for us, because there are small issues that would want to surely advance given limitless ability over the universe. also, the argument you used contained in the first paragraph has never been utilized with the help of an atheist ever.

Answer 10

When humans actually demonstrate higher intelligence ..possibly they could be superior..but to what? and who would there be to consider them so.. is there is someone 'out there' that would even care about humans intellectual superiority, and if there is they must be pretty superior too.